8909770

Performance Estimator for Network Devices

PublishedDecember 9, 2014
Assigneenot available in USPTO data we have
Technical Abstract

Patent Claims
18 claims

Legal claims defining the scope of protection. Each claim is shown in both the original legal language and a plain English translation.

Claim 1

Original Legal Text

1. A method comprising: determining, by a network device, one or more performance metrics associated with a scripting engine of the network device; parsing, by the network device, a user-defined script to determine the user-defined script's content; and generating, by the network device based on the content of the user-defined script and the one or more performance metrics, a performance estimate for the network device in view of the user-defined script, the performance estimate indicating likely performance of the network device when the user-defined script is executed via the scripting engine.

Plain English Translation

A network device estimates its performance when running a user-defined script. The device determines performance metrics related to its scripting engine. It parses the script to understand its content. Based on the script's content and the performance metrics, it generates a performance estimate. This estimate predicts how the network device will perform when the script runs using the scripting engine.

Claim 2

Original Legal Text

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining, parsing, and generating are performed at a time of compiling the user-defined script on the network device.

Plain English Translation

The network device from the previous performance estimation description determines performance metrics related to its scripting engine, parses the script to understand its content, and generates a performance estimate all during the compilation of the user-defined script.

Claim 3

Original Legal Text

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more performance metrics include a performance overhead value for a packet processing engine of the network device.

Plain English Translation

In the performance estimation method of a network device described earlier, one of the performance metrics considered is a performance overhead value associated with the device's packet processing engine. This reflects the load the scripting engine places on core networking functions.

Claim 4

Original Legal Text

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the one or more performance metrics further include: a performance overhead value for each of a plurality of event handlers; and a performance overhead value for each of a plurality of application programming interfaces (APIs).

Plain English Translation

In the performance estimation method of a network device that considers a packet processing engine overhead, the performance metrics also include: a performance overhead value for each of multiple event handlers used by the scripting engine; and a performance overhead value for each of multiple application programming interfaces (APIs) available to the scripts.

Claim 5

Original Legal Text

5. The method of claim 4 wherein generating the performance estimate comprises: identifying one or more event handlers in the plurality of event handlers that are included in the user-defined script; identifying one or more APIs in the plurality of APIs that are invoked in the user-defined script; and generating an aggregate performance metric for the user-defined script by aggregating the performance overhead value for the packet processing engine, the performance overhead values for each of the one or more event handlers, and the performance overhead values for each of the one or more APIs.

Plain English Translation

The performance estimation method of a network device that considers performance metrics for packet processing engine, event handlers, and APIs, generates the performance estimate by: identifying which event handlers from a set of handlers are used in the user-defined script; identifying which APIs from a set of APIs are called by the script; calculating a combined performance metric for the script by adding the packet processing engine overhead, overheads of the used event handlers, and overheads of the invoked APIs.

Claim 6

Original Legal Text

6. The method of claim 5 wherein generating the performance estimate further comprises converting the aggregate performance metric into the performance estimate.

Plain English Translation

The performance estimation method of a network device that generates an aggregate performance metric by combining overhead values, further refines the estimate by converting the aggregate performance metric into the final performance estimate, which may involve scaling or normalizing the value.

Claim 7

Original Legal Text

7. The method of claim 1 where the performance estimate pertains to CPU utilization of the network device.

Plain English Translation

The performance estimate generated by the network device pertains to the CPU utilization that the network device will experience when running the user-defined script via the scripting engine.

Claim 8

Original Legal Text

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the performance estimate identifies a number of connections per second that the network device can maintain at a given CPU utilization rate.

Plain English Translation

In the performance estimation method, the performance estimate related to CPU utilization further specifies the number of network connections per second that the network device can maintain while operating at a certain level of CPU utilization after the user-defined script is executed.

Claim 9

Original Legal Text

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the performance estimate pertains to system throughput of the network device.

Plain English Translation

The performance estimate generated by the network device pertains to the system throughput of the network device while running the user-defined script through the scripting engine.

Claim 10

Original Legal Text

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to the determining: measuring the one or more performance metrics; and storing the one or more performance metrics in a memory of the network device.

Plain English Translation

Before determining performance metrics in the performance estimation method, the network device measures the performance metrics and stores them in its memory for later access when user-defined scripts are executed via the scripting engine.

Claim 11

Original Legal Text

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the determining comprises accessing the one or more performance metrics from the memory.

Plain English Translation

In the performance estimation method where performance metrics are pre-measured and stored, the step of determining the metrics involves retrieving them from the network device's memory.

Claim 12

Original Legal Text

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the measuring and storing are performed prior to deployment of the network device.

Plain English Translation

In the performance estimation method where performance metrics are pre-measured and stored in memory, the measuring and storing of these metrics happen before the network device is deployed into a production environment.

Claim 13

Original Legal Text

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a user interface for presenting the performance estimate to a user.

Plain English Translation

The performance estimation method further includes generating a user interface that displays the performance estimate to the user for the user-defined script execution.

Claim 14

Original Legal Text

14. A computing device comprising: a processor; and a memory having stored therein program code executable by the processor, the program code causing the processor to: determine one or more performance metrics associated with a scripting engine of the computing device; parse a user-defined script to determine the user-defined script's content; and generate, based on the content of the user-defined script and the one or more performance metrics, a performance estimate for the computing device in view of the user-defined script, the performance estimate indicating likely performance of the computing device when the user-defined script is executed via the scripting engine.

Plain English Translation

A computing device estimates its performance when running a user-defined script. The device determines performance metrics related to its scripting engine. It parses the script to understand its content. Based on the script's content and the performance metrics, it generates a performance estimate. This estimate predicts how the computing device will perform when the script runs using the scripting engine.

Claim 15

Original Legal Text

15. The computing device of claim 14 wherein the computing device is a network device.

Plain English Translation

The computing device that estimates performance when running user-defined scripts via the scripting engine, is a network device.

Claim 16

Original Legal Text

16. The computing device of claim 15 wherein the computing device is a Layer 4 through 7 switch.

Plain English Translation

The network device that estimates performance when running user-defined scripts, is a Layer 4 through 7 switch.

Claim 17

Original Legal Text

17. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computing device, the program code comprising: code that causes the computing device to determine one or more performance metrics associated with a scripting engine of the computing device; code that causes the computing device to parse a user-defined script to determine the user-defined script's content; and code that causes the computing device to, based on the content of the user-defined script and the one or more performance metrics, generate a performance estimate for the computing device in view of the user-defined script, the performance estimate indicating likely performance of the computing device when the user-defined script is executed via the scripting engine.

Plain English Translation

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores program code that enables a computing device to estimate its performance when running a user-defined script. The code makes the device determine performance metrics related to its scripting engine, parse the script to understand its content, and generate a performance estimate based on the script's content and the performance metrics. This estimate predicts device performance when the script runs using the scripting engine.

Claim 18

Original Legal Text

18. A method comprising: determining, by a computing device, one or more performance metrics associated with a scripting engine of the computing device; parsing, by the computing device, a user-defined script to determine the user-defined script's content; and generating, by the computing device based on the content of the user-defined script and the one or more performance metrics, a performance estimate for the computing device in view of the user-defined script, the performance estimate indicating likely performance of the computing device when the user-defined script is executed via the scripting engine.

Plain English Translation

A computing device estimates its performance when running a user-defined script. The device determines performance metrics related to its scripting engine. It parses the script to understand its content. Based on the script's content and the performance metrics, it generates a performance estimate. This estimate predicts how the computing device will perform when the script runs using the scripting engine.

Patent Metadata

Filing Date

Unknown

Publication Date

December 9, 2014

Inventors

Milind Kulkarni
Xin Luo
Mani Kancherla

Want to explore more patents?

Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.

Citation & reuse

Analysis on this page is generated by Patentable — an AI-powered patent intelligence platform. AI-generated summaries, explanations, FAQs, and analysis may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL below. Patent abstracts and claims are USPTO public domain.

Cite as: Patentable. “Performance Estimator for Network Devices” (8909770). https://patentable.app/patents/8909770

© 2026 Nomic Interactive Technology LLC. Machine-readable context available at /api/llm-context/8909770. See llms.txt for full attribution policy.